place is already filling, and every delay promises a loss. There
are still other companions bound toward the city: countrymen
bearing cages of poultry; others engaged in the uncertain calling
of driving pigs; swarthy Oriental sailors, with rings in their
ears, bearing bales of Phoenician goods from the Peireus; respectable
country gentlemen, walking gravely in their best white mantles
and striving to avoid the mud and contamination; and perhaps also
a small company of soldiers, just back from foreign service, passes,
clattering shields and spear staves.


10. The Gate and the Street Scenes.--The crowds grow denser
as everybody approaches the frequented "Peireus Gate," for nearly
all of Attica which lies within easy reach of Athens has business
in the Market Place every morning. On passing the gate a fairly
straight way leads through the city to the market, but progress for
the multitude becomes slow. If it is one of the main thoroughfares,
it is now very likely to be almost blocked with people. There are
few late risers at Athens; the Council of Five Hundred[*], the huge
Jury Courts, and the Public Assembly (if it has met to-day[+]) are
appointed to gather at sunrise. The plays in the theater, which,
however, are given only on certain festivals, begin likewise at
sunrise. The philosophers say that "the man who would accomplish
great things must be up while yet it is dark." Athenians, therefore,
are always awake and stirring at an hour when men of later ages and
more cold and foggy climes will be painfully yawning ere getting
out of bed.

[*]The "Boule," the great standing committee of the Athenian people
to aid the magistrates in the government.